I Am a Proud Lakota Sioux

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I am a proud Lakota Sioux, I live on a reservation in Oklahoma in the early 1900’s which was once known as the Great Plains. This forced way of life is very different to the one I use to lead many moons ago. In my old age I have seen and done many things. Listen to me my grandchildren for this is my tale and is your heritage. Growing up on the Great Plains was a hard but satisfying way of life. As a child I learned fast the ways to hunt buffalo with the grace and skill of my ancestors. A fully trained Sioux warrior could keep accuracy at full gallop up to 100 yards. By age 14 I was “counting coup” by touching an enemy either with my hand, bow or coup stick, then escaping. By successfully “counting coup” I earned an eagle feather each time and the right to wear it. I saw your grandmother and had to have her for a wife. I spoke with her father and we came to an agreement, I gave him 3 horses for her. Luckily I had stolen some horses from a camp of white men just days before. I could have had many more wives but I was content with what I had. She is a great cook and could clean kills with skill and speed. The whites killed many of our buffalo for reasons no man can justify. I once stumbled across a plain close to our sacred hunting grounds where many buffalo where slaughtered only for their tongues and hides while the rest was left to rot in the sun. It was a sad day for the Sioux with many tears shed and many prayers sent. As time went by the great buffalo was almost driven to extinction. Unfortunately I cannot blame the white man entirely for this tragedy, as I and all Lakota Sioux many times killed to many buffalo to use and wasted much. With more and more white men pouring into our lands, by the 1850’s we were at conflict with one another mainly over land. Treaties were signed but rarely honored and many were nothing more than underhand ways to steal our land.

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